Upon further contemplation, Andy LaRoche wants to close the gap between the lower case 'a' and upper case 'R' in his surname. In other words, clubhouse manager can discard the jersey that reads La Roche.

LaRoche requested that his name be spelled with the space about a month ago, a departure from the way his brother — Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Adam — and father — former big league pitcher Dave — spelled it.

"I ought to go with it the way everybody else does," Andy said. "I'm not sure what I was thinking."

LaRoche came into spring training hoping to battle Wilson Betemit at third base but mostly battled himself. He has made seven errors, is batting .180 and will begin the season at Las Vegas.

Well if you're batting .180, I guess you're not going to make headlines otherwise. Needless to say, this blog is going to start calling him Andy Lar Oche.